Furniture Placement for Living Rooms

What You'll Need

• Before you move the first piece of furniture, stop and do what the professionals do—get it all on paper. All you need is a tape measure, graph paper, scissors and a pencil to plot your room's furniture arrangement. Getting it all on paper allows you to explore your options without breaking your back moving the actual furniture pieces in different configurations.

Getting it On Paper

• First, measure your living room, then draw it on the graph paper, letting each square on the paper represent one foot of space. Measure fixed features of the room, like windows, doors, fireplaces, or entertainment centers that can't be moved or built-in cabinetry, and mark them on your diagram accordingly. Next, measure each piece of furniture that will be used in the room, and draw them on a separate sheet of graph paper. Don't worry about being an artist—simply drawing rectangles, squares, and other shapes representing the size of your furniture pieces is enough. If it helps you to visualize the finished room, color your paper "furniture" in the colors of your actual furniture.

  If you plan to use a lot of electronics in your room, it may also be helpful to mark the electrical and data outlets on your diagram. Nothing is more frustrating than coming up with a pleasing furniture arrangement, only to find that it will not work because of electrical cords or TV cable hook-ups!

Plotting Your Room

• Now that you have a room on paper and "furniture" waiting to be moved in, it's time to think about the use of the room. What is the room's focal point? Is it a fireplace? An entertainment center? A window with a stunning view? Arrange the furniture around the focal point, starting with the largest pieces, usually the sofa and other seating, ensuring that most of the seating has an unobstructed view of the focal point. As your working, keep traffic flow into and out of the room in mind, taking care to leave a wide path from doorways into the room. Once the larger pieces of furniture are taken care of, begin adding smaller pieces like occasional tables and ottomans.

Things to Consider

• When arranging furniture in any room, keep these things in mind:

  Have you left enough space between sofas and cocktail tables? About 18-22 inches between the two is best.

  Is there sufficient room for doors on cabinets and chests to open freely?

  Are heating and air conditioning registers or vents unobstructed?

  Have you taken lighting into consideration, making sure that there are lamps or other lights illuminating all areas of the room?